"One Life Stand" is UK dance quintet Hot Chip's 4th album and it is filled with swirling synths, catchy melodies, and angelic falsettos. Opening cut "Thieves in the Night" is deliriously euphoric, while "Hand Me Down Your Love" sets sweeping strings to a Motown-style beat. Title track "One Life Stand" is dark & chiming at the same time, while "Alley Cats" and the floaty Pet Shop boys-style "Take It In" are more sombre.

The bouncy "We Have Love" was apparently inspired by Donna Summer's "I Feel Love", while the pulsing "Brothers" (a paean to looking out for each other) starts off ballad-like. Of the upbeat numbers, "I Feel Better" is the stand-out, trance-like and hypnotic with icy synth-strings and bouncy beat perfectly offsetting the warbled falsetto. My favorite.

The ballads are a revelation themselves; "Keep Quiet" and especially the Doo Wop-style piano ballad "Slush" with densely layered harmonies. Clever and beautiful! [NE]